Does a Husband Have the Authority to Discipline His Wife?

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00:03

I can't think of a single passage anywhere that talks about a husband spanking his wife as a form of punishment or, or, um...

00:38

The message of Christianity is that salvation is found in Christ alone, and any who reject

00:50

Christ therefore forfeit any hope of salvation, any hope of heaven.

00:58

The issue is that humanity is in sin, and the wrath of Almighty God is hanging over our heads.

01:08

They will hear His words, they will not act upon them, and when the floods of divine judgment, when the fires of wrath come, they will be consumed and they will perish.

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God wrapped Himself in flesh, condescended and became a man, died on the cross for sin, was resurrected on the third day, has ascended to the right hand of the

01:31

Father where He sits now to make intercession for us. Jesus is saying there is a group of people who will hear

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His words, they will act upon them, and when the floods of divine judgment come in that final day, their house will stand.

01:48

Welcome to Bible Bash, where we aim to equip the saints for the works of ministry by answering the questions you're not allowed to ask.

01:54

We're your host Harrison Kerrigan, Pastor Tim Mullett, and today we'll answer the age -old question, does a husband have the authority to discipline his wife?

02:03

Now, as we kick off this absolutely not contentious episode in any way whatsoever episode, this conversation,

02:13

Tim, what Bible verse do you have for us that applies to the topic of a husband being able to discipline his wife?

02:23

Yes, Ephesians 6 .4, fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

02:29

Lord. Okay, so you got part of it right. That was a

02:34

Bible verse, so we'll check on that part. The problem is,

02:40

I didn't hear any mention of a husband and a wife. I heard a father and a child.

02:46

That's right, man. Okay, so what's the explanation? What's the connection here?

02:57

That's a good observation. I'm very proud of you for making it. I try sometimes.

03:04

Yeah, okay. So the idea related to this discussion is there's different ways to approach this topic in general, but then one way to think about what we're even talking about is to word it in the language that we did.

03:21

So you asked the question, does a husband have the authority to discipline his wife? And when you think about that word discipline, that word is a word that shows up in this passage.

03:31

So fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

03:37

Lord. And when it's used in this kind of context, the issue is this is a word that means discipline in the sense of it's more than spanking, but it's not limited to spanking.

03:48

Does that make sense? Okay, yeah, I'm following so far. In English, and a lot of this is a discussion about the meaning of words and how they map onto different languages and everything else.

03:59

But then in English, you could use the word discipline in different senses, right? So you can use the word discipline in the sense of disciplining your body or something along those lines.

04:11

And then you can use discipline in the sense of child rearing or child raising. But then the issue is when the word discipline is used in the context of spanking, right?

04:21

When it's used in that kind of context, then you have a particular word that's being used in Greek here, okay?

04:28

So that kind of word in Greek is paideia, right? And when

04:34

I say paideia, you should know where that comes from or the words that come from that essentially.

04:43

Like paedocommunion is a word that comes from this Greek word paideia, okay? Like pediatrics is a word that comes from this word paideia.

04:53

So paise is the word for child, right? And then paideia is the word for discipline, which is basically in this context, it's the act of providing guidance for responsible living, upbringing, training, and instruction.

05:05

Like in this kind of context, this is a word that is basically used to describe child raising.

05:12

Does that make sense? So basically, it's sort of like the same way we would read, you know, all of the proverbs that talk about, you know, spanking your children essentially, right?

05:27

Like that word would be, the paideia, that would be used similarly to what's being used in the

05:34

Proverbs passages is essentially what you're saying, right? So, you know, as you read through the

05:41

Proverbs in that way, you're going to see things like discipline your son while there's hope, right? All right, well, that's that word in the

05:48

LXX, right? So, that's the same kind of word, okay? The rod of discipline, right, will drive it far from him.

05:57

It's the same word paideia, the rod of discipline in Greek. Does that make sense? So, in Proverbs, yes, like this word paideia, which is being used in Ephesians there, it's a word that basically is coming from the root pais, which means child, right?

06:14

So, basically, you have like a word that means like child training with the sense of corporal punishment as it applies to children.

06:22

So, this is just one part of this discussion is you have to understand that like when discipline, like when this particular word is used, discipline is used in this sense, right?

06:35

This is a word, like when it's used in the sense of like corporal punishment, it's being used towards children.

06:41

Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. So, we're primarily here.

06:46

We're having a conversation. When we're talking about spanking being mentioned in the Bible, right, the use of the rod, we're talking about children.

06:57

There is no husband, wife. There is no pastor, you know, congregation.

07:05

There's nothing like that. It's father, child. Is that correct? Yeah. So, now, it's used two times in the

07:12

New Testament in its specific form or whatever. So, it's used two times. It's used in the

07:17

Ephesians 6 passage, father should not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. So, it's used there.

07:23

But then it's also used in Hebrews 12 or whatever. It's used in the sense of like God providing discipline to the church, right?

07:34

So, let me read that. Let me read that passage for you so you can get a feel for what's happening there.

07:40

So, let's see. Hebrews 12, 5.

07:47

So, have you not forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the

07:55

Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastises every son he receives.

08:01

So, it is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as a son. So, notice how it says that.

08:08

Like when God disciplines you as his child, he's treating you as a son, right? Petey It's another father -child relationship.

08:16

Jared It's not he's treating you as a wife, right? Petey Right. Jared Even though we're described metaphorically as his bride in other passages, do you understand?

08:25

It's saying he's treating you as a son, right? God is treating you as a son. For what son is there whom his

08:30

Father does not discipline? So, if you're left without discipline in which you have all participated, then you are illegitimate children and not son.

08:37

Besides this, we've had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of Spirits and live?

08:44

For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

08:51

You know, for the moment, all discipline seemed painful rather than pleasant. Painful, right? Because, yeah, you understand the connotations there, right?

08:59

But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it. So, like, the issue, though, is just to say, okay, yeah, this is a word for child -rearing.

09:09

Like, it's a word for corporal punishment. It has broader meaning than that, but it's a word that describes corporal punishment used as a training tool for children, right?

09:18

But then the issue is, like, it's also used metaphorically as God relates to the church as adults, too.

09:28

Do you understand? Right. Yeah, but in that sense, like, God isn't, like, literally spanking us or whatever, right?

09:36

He's not literally spanking us, but then, like, in a metaphorical sense, he is always going to be our father.

09:42

So, the issue here is that we never grow out of a dependent relationship with him. Like, we're always going to be his children, right?

09:50

Yeah, yeah. Even as adults, we're still children spiritually underneath God.

09:57

And then we're still subject to his spiritual spankings, right? The spiritual spankings.

10:03

I mean, they're more like metaphorical spankings, right? They're more like metaphorical spankings, meaning, like, they can take physical form and trials in the form of trial and everything else.

10:11

But then the idea of discipline is a concept tied from, like, a parent to a child, right?

10:20

And so then, as it relates to God, yes, like, we're his children. We never grow out of a child -dependent relationship with him in the way that our kids might, right?

10:29

But this is like a parent -child… When discipline is used in this as a corporal punishment, it's used in a parent -child context, basically.

10:38

So, that's why I'm bringing that verse up. Okay, alright. That makes more sense.

10:44

That's more clear now for me. No, but that is an interesting thought.

10:49

I mean, I can't think of a single passage anywhere that talks about a husband spanking his wife as a form of punishment, or really any corporal punishment.

11:05

I mean, maybe there's something somewhere that I'm forgetting right now in this moment, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

11:12

Everything that I can think of is a father -child relationship. Every single one of them.

11:20

So, that's an interesting thought. But then, that does lead me to another question, which is…

11:25

Okay, so if the Bible is constantly presenting spanking as something that is between a father and his children…

11:38

I mean, it seems like for so long, this kind of thing, like a husband using corporal punishment on his wife to discipline her…

11:49

It seems like that was a really common thing for a really long time. I mean, like there's

11:55

TV shows that people love to this day that had that kind of stuff in it, right?

12:03

And so, I guess the question then becomes, where did this idea come from?

12:10

And it being so popular, it being such a common thing seemingly, is there any weight to that?

12:19

And having a discussion about, can a husband biblically use corporal punishment on his wife?

12:27

So, yeah, talking about it in that way, what is the merit of having the discussion about it in general?

12:33

And I think we just got out of having a bunch of people on the internet screaming at us for a couple days.

12:39

It was crazy. That was crazy. You just asked a question. So, yeah, I had someone ask me this question, just some context.

12:46

I had someone ask me this question, and they said that I should do a poll on it, probably an episode on it.

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And the reason why is because this is something that they have been asked about from other people, basically, and they'd be curious to hear our thoughts on it.

12:59

And so, in that kind of context, I don't believe this is the kind of topic that you can't even discuss.

13:08

So, what you have is you have a lot of people who basically are– there's like an

13:13

Overton window kind of discussion as it relates to this. Meaning this is the kind of thing, like you've said, this is the kind of thing that shows up on old movies.

13:22

Like there's John Wayne movies where this kind of thing happens. You know, I Love Lucy TV show, that kind of thing.

13:29

I mean, you could do like a simple–and I don't even know if I'd necessarily recommend it– but you could do a GIF search about like wife spanking or something like that, and you will see old

13:38

TV shows and movies where this kind of thing happened. And I mean, I could think of numerous examples in movies and TV, like older movies and older TV shows, where this kind of thing was normal, okay?

13:51

So, this thing was normal like 50, 60, 70 years ago. This was a normal thing. So, the issue is as a society, we've gone from this topic being so normal to this expectation that a husband has the authority to inflict corporal punishment on his wife.

14:09

We've gone from that being so normal that it shows up on TV shows, and then post -feminism, the women's lib movement, and everything else, we're now at a point where it's unspeakable, right?

14:22

Yeah, like you can't–don't even dare ask for a biblical explanation.

14:28

So, the poll I did was pretty–it was about as neutral as you can possibly get. So, I did a poll on it, and I'm basically saying, you know, wife spanking, does the husband have authority to discipline his wife with spanking, right?

14:39

That's the question, yes or no. And I mean, we've had people screaming at us for three or four days that you should–

14:46

There were people that had–they had other people that weren't us.

14:52

They had other people come to them after that, you know. Person one had just like a completely vitriolic response to the question, just purely emoting and grandstanding, because they assumed that we thought a husband did have the authority to use corporal punishment, right?

15:14

And so, they're emoting, it's all this grandstanding, and then they'll have, you know, person number two come along and say,

15:23

Bible Bash literally said someone asked them what their response to this question would be, and so, they're running a poll to see what people's responses are.

15:35

And then person one would respond to that, not by saying, oh, okay, well, here's the biblical argument for why a husband doesn't have the authority to do that.

15:48

Instead, they would say things like, well, he should have never asked the question anyway.

15:54

It's like, okay, I guess, you know, hey, that's great, that's great. That's the same exact attitude that has run so many people out of the church because they realize that you can't provide answers to any of the questions they have.

16:08

Jared Yeah, so, what's interesting about it is, I mean, I have a category for something along those lines.

16:14

I mean, like, the concept of overt and window exist, okay? Meaning, like, there are certain topics of discourse that I don't feel comfortable asking.

16:22

So, I've had a lot of people ask certain questions that I wouldn't want to repeat that I'm not really comfortable asking.

16:29

I mean, there are limits, right? There are limits to these things. I mean, you know, you could just, a lot of these kind of, this isn't necessarily a question that someone's asked, but if someone were to ask, us to ask the question, like, are white people allowed to enslave black people or something like that?

16:49

What's the biblical case? I wouldn't ask it. I mean, there's like, if you could take that question,

17:01

I probably wouldn't ask that one, but then if you were to take it even more extreme than that, you can imagine more extreme variations of that kind of question that I think are so beyond the realm of propriety that I wouldn't.

17:18

So, I don't think that I just have a blank slate to ask anything that anyone wants me to ask or something along those lines.

17:24

I mean, there is such a thing as a pointless controversy, right? Yeah, yeah. So, something like, does a husband have the authority to kill his wife or something like that?

17:35

It's like, I wouldn't ask that on Twitter, right? Right. I wouldn't ask that, right?

17:40

So, I mean, I think that there are obviously questions like that. The interesting thing about this one, though, is this one is something that people are asking.

17:48

They're asking right now, right? This is a live question. This is not just some kind of made -up hypothetical. This is a live question that people are asking, and I've been asked in numerous contexts with this, and then not only that, the people who are asking it are asking it in the kind of context that we have

18:06

TV shows that you still have access to, where this kind of thing is happening, right?

18:11

So, you have to give some sort of explanation for that phenomenon, and I think that that's perfectly reasonable.

18:18

So, you know, a lot of people, they're accusing us of like, the only reason you're entertaining it is because you think it's a reasonable question or something like that.

18:25

There may be something to it. It's like, no, I think that the issue is, I think that you have to be honest with the reality that our culture just, like, this was something that was normal, and now it's not, right?

18:39

And the only thing that's happened in between is the women's rights movement, and feminism, and everything else, women's lib.

18:45

So, like, the issue is you have to give some explanation, and you have to answer, well, what changed, right?

18:51

Did we become more godly as a society, or was that a distortion in certain ways, or, you know, how do you view it?

18:58

So, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to feel some kind of responsibility to say, hey, right now the

19:06

Overton window has so shifted to the point where this is an unthinkable question to ask, and then to give some, you need to give some accounting for what's changed, and, you know, why were we wrong in the past, and we're right now, or were we right in certain ways in the past, and wrong in certain ways in the past, and right in certain ways now, and wrong in certain ways now?

19:26

And I would say that most people who are reacting to this are reacting to it for the wrong reason, okay? So, one of the things that's happened is, like, you asked this question online, and I didn't get hardly any good answers at all.

19:37

Most of the answers that I got were, they reduced to, like, a husband should love his wife.

19:45

Yeah. And you think, okay, well, shouldn't the parent love his child, right? Apparently not.

19:52

So, I mean, you see how that's, like, an anti -spanking argument, right? Yeah, yeah. So, like, if that's what it reduces to, like, if it reduces to a husband should love his wife, and, you know, well, so is it unloving to spank your child?

20:04

So, that's kind of what you have to come to, right, is that kind of thing. And so, those are the kind of answers that you got, where most of them were just, like, feminist arguments.

20:13

They reduced to feminist arguments or anti -spanking arguments, and it's like, well,

20:19

I think if you don't give better answers than that, then, you know, the people on the right who are arguing for this kind of thing, they're not going to have any good answers.

20:28

So, I do think that, yeah, I agree with you, like, in the sense that I think that there's a lot of people, particularly on the right, who have unpopular thoughts, and they're looking around for people to give them answers.

20:39

And, you know, what generally happens is you have a bunch of people who are basically virtue signaling related to this topic and refuse to actually give helpful answers at that point at all.

20:48

So, that's just kind of the situation, essentially. Right. So, then, you know, the question still stands, then, why was it that it was so popular for so long?

21:00

And then, you know, now there's been this shift to it's just totally unthinkable.

21:07

You can't even ask people to give a biblical answer to it. Right. We asked the question, we gave a biblical answer to it, like, a limited biblical answer to it, and then we're still villainized for even bringing it up because that dignifies it as a conversation.

21:20

So, what has changed? You know, why do they think that way in the past? Well, I did word, I worded it in the way that I worded it to try to point to certain aspects of the discussion that I think are somewhat important.

21:32

Meaning, like, you know, the issue is, like, what is the nature of a husband's authority? Does the husband have absolute authority over his wife, or are there limits to it?

21:42

And I would say there has to be some sort of limits. Like, he doesn't have power over her life, obviously, right? Right.

21:47

So, like, there are limits to his, he doesn't have absolute authority. And then the issue is, does he have authority to discipline? So, I'm wording it in that kind of way, and that tips my hand.

21:55

And, you know, the way I even asked the question, and I asked it in a pretty loaded way, because, you know, a lot of people who are arguing for this on the right, they're more going to use the language of corporal punishment, okay?

22:05

So, then the argument at that point is that, yeah, a wife is like a husband's property. If a wife is a husband's property, just like a slave under the old covenant law is a master's property, right?

22:17

So, you think about some of those things, those angular passages in the Old Testament that no one really wants to talk about, like a master beating a slave.

22:25

Like, if he survives a day, then, you know, it's not an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life situation, because he's, the slave is his kesed, his money, his property, right?

22:37

So, then, like, those kind of passages are feeding into this, like, does a husband own, is wife husband's property?

22:45

And then, like, if an adult has, like, if an adult, like slave master, has the authority to inflict corporal punishment on a slave, right?

22:56

So, but that isn't using the language of discipline, that's just using the language of corporal punishment. If an adult, you know, has that kind of authority, then the argument goes, doesn't a husband have the same kind of authority to a wife, considering that he's also, like, the lord over his wife, right?

23:12

So, he's, just as the Bible describes him as the master over his slave, so, also, a husband is described as the master of his home, right?

23:21

So, the home is pictured as his kingdom, then. So, then, that, I mean, those are the way that those arguments go, essentially.

23:27

So, those are the kind of arguments that people are making, that, you know, a husband has, like, neutral authority to, like, over everything that happens in the home in that way.

23:39

And so, what was the question again? Like, how did they get there, basically? So, yeah, so, you know, the first question was, why was it so popular for so long?

23:50

And then, the follow -up question was, how did we get to where it's just totally unthinkable to even posit the question?

23:57

Right, so, what's happened at every single level is that a husband's, like, authority has been undermined to so, so much, right, at this point?

24:05

So, what's happened is you have, like, a very strong sense of a husband's authority that I would argue is, like, overly strong, okay?

24:13

Like, meaning, I would argue that the arguments that I just put forward, I think you do have to establish that a husband has the authority of discipline over his wife.

24:21

Like, I think that that's a significant concept that feeds into that, which I don't think a husband has the authority to discipline his wife.

24:28

So, I would think about that as, like, a limit, and I would think that there's other checks on those relationships, like church discipline, that more naturally apply, right?

24:37

So, there's, like, church discipline kind of context, and there's even governmental checks on those kind of things, you know, so there are authorities above the husband.

24:48

So, what's happened is, like, right now in the society we live in, as a result of feminism, there's no sense of a husband authority at all, right?

24:56

So, part of it's just, like, there's no sense whatsoever of a husband having any kind of authority, any kind of submission that a wife has to her husband is just kind of submission in name only, right?

25:08

So, like, sign up. Submission in name only. And a lot of what's happened, like, and maybe even more significant than all that is the abuse discussion, okay?

25:18

So, I mean, right now we're having, like, our sensitivities towards anything related to the topic of any kind of physical force being applied in any kind of context whatsoever, particularly as it relates to a man and a woman.

25:35

Like, you're just so far into the Me Too movement kind of stuff here, like, eradicating the concept of wife -beater from the face of the earth kind of discussion, that at this point, basically, people are just, there's so much in the

25:50

Bible, like, anti -bullying, anti -wife -beating kind of impulses that people have, there's so much in the

25:57

Bible that really doesn't even make any sense anymore, okay? Like, meaning that, like, you know,

26:04

Ezra says that he, I think it's Ezra, I can't remember, he beat some of them, he pulled out their hair, you know, and charged them never to, you know, to marry foreign women again or whatever.

26:18

Maybe it was Nehemiah, I can't remember. But anyways, like, you have passages like that in the Bible, you have passages like may a righteous man strike me or whatever.

26:25

You have passages like if someone, you know, strikes you on your left cheek, you know, you turn to him, you write one also. So, like, the issue is, like, in the

26:32

Bible, they didn't have quite the same kind of sensitivity to matters related to physical violence, okay?

26:44

Like, do you see what I'm saying? Like, there is a category for, like, roughing up someone who deserves it in the

26:51

Bible. For a righteous beating, huh? Right, there is a category for, like, a redneck, for redneck justice in the

26:58

Bible to some degree, you know, that isn't, like, curb stomping someone on the ground and, you know, destroying their teeth or something like that.

27:06

But there is a kind of, there is that kind of concept in the Bible, right?

27:12

It's like the airplane scene, right? Where they're like, get a hold of yourself, woman!

27:19

And then they slap her. Right, so there's nothing, so the issue is, like, so you're going from a society where there was things like that that were somewhat humorous, and I mean, like, you know, the meme or whatever,

27:32

Ricky Ricardo disciplining Lucille Ball or whatever on I Love Lucy, I mean, it's like a comedy, it's a sitcom, it's funny, right?

27:39

Like, because it's not, like, there's no, this is, there's nothing happening.

27:45

Like, it's more just a humiliating thing. Like, it's not really, like, what's happening in that moment, like, in that show is not, like, there's no, what's it called?

27:57

This is not, like, what people's impulses are trained to view it now as is that, like, something like that is viewed like a man hitting a wife with a baseball bat.

28:06

Do you see what I'm saying? And so, I would think that he doesn't have the authority to do that, but then in order to make that argument,

28:14

I don't have to go in my mind and pretend, like, that that is the same as hitting her with a baseball bat, right?

28:21

And so, that's the level of nuance and care that people are able to have today is that they treat anything like that in any kind of context as if it's the same thing as hitting someone in the face with a baseball bat or an ax, right?

28:36

And so, like, it's that kind of thing, like, to where there's a lot then in the

28:42

Bible that really doesn't make any sense. So, the issue is, like, we're so hypersensitive to these things now at this point to where, like, literally in the minds of people, if you were to, you know, show them the

28:56

Ricky Ricardo, Lucille Ball scene or whatever, they're viewing it almost as if he shot her, you know?

29:03

It's that kind of thing, but then when you think about what's actually happening there and what's happening in those old movies, it's nothing comparable to all that, right?

29:14

So, I mean, you could say, hey, it's bad without saying it's, like, you literally shot someone or killed someone or something like that, but we're so sensitive related to the

29:24

Me Too movement and everything else now that those things are just, I mean, like, in the minds of many people, if something like that were to happen, then that wife would need a divorce, her husband, right?

29:36

You know, and so, like, in this climate, that would be, like, divorce -worthy, you know? And so, we've just, like, a lot of what's happened is that we've just become so sensitized to those kind of things, right?

29:50

That we don't have any way of ordering them rightly, meaning, like, you obviously have to make some sort of distinction between those scenes in those movies and, you know, like a scene of the husband coming home drunk and giving the wife, you know, a broken nose and a black eye.

30:09

Like, those are obviously different things, you know, that, you know, and if you're not able to say that, then you're not being honest, you know?

30:19

Yeah. So, basically, yeah. So, that's what's changed, basically. So, why do we, you know, even today have some, it seems like primarily men,

30:31

I don't know that I saw any women, maybe there's, like, one or two women that were saying that the husband did have that authority, but why is it that there are men who are convinced that they do have that authority as a husband, or at least that, you know, husbands in general have that authority over their wives?

30:55

I think that it's difficult to even know what to make of the poll results.

31:00

I mean, I think something like 2 ,600 people responded and something like 15 % said, yes, a husband has the authority to discipline his wife in that way.

31:08

But then you had a lot of comments of individuals saying, yes, I'm going to say he does have that authority, but then he shouldn't use it, if that makes sense.

31:16

Okay. Which seems like an even more puzzling response.

31:22

So, I think the way that people who were trained to be outraged at even asking that question at all as if it's something to discuss, like, what they hear when they see 15 % is, like, those 15 % are wife beaters, that's what they hear, right?

31:38

Like, that's how you identify, so 15 % of the people in the church, and I would just think that that's probably not what's happening at all.

31:44

Meaning, based on the comments, you have people who are basically saying, yeah, I think he has that authority.

31:50

And what's actually happening is I just think that we haven't, and this is why you need to actually talk about this topic, is

31:57

I think that there's a certain segment of individuals who realize that the authority of a husband has been so eroded to the point where it's nonexistent, who basically haven't thought through the entailments of the nature of what kind of authority a husband has.

32:13

And so then what they basically see it as is almost like a blank slate, right? Kind of authority, right?

32:20

And I mean, obviously, there's passages that read that way, okay? Like, meaning a husband should obey, just as the church submits to Christ in everything, so also a wife should in everything submit to her husband, right?

32:33

1 Peter 1 .3, like, wives to be subject to your own husbands, even if some are disobedient to the word, right?

32:39

And win them over without a word, or they observe your chaste and respectful conduct. Like, the idea is just to say that the

32:46

Bible's statements on the husband's authority are pretty strong, right? And they're kind of black and white statements.

32:52

Like, that's what they are. They're not dealing with exceptions, right? Like, so they, be subject in everything to your husband.

33:00

It's just that is worded like that, right? In everything, right? So then the issue is,

33:07

I think, I think a lot of people, if you're gonna ask the question, does he have the authority? In their mind, the

33:12

Bible speaks that way. The Bible says, yeah, he has authority in everything, right? So a wife should be subject to her husband in everything.

33:19

So they would understand that to be fairly absolute. But then, so if they're, and what's happening is you have a lot of men who can answer a question like that in, without emotion, right?

33:33

Like, if their position, if your position is the husband's authority is absolute because that's what the Bible says, you could answer that question without emotion and just say yes, okay?

33:42

That's true. But then in practice, that doesn't mean that you would do that. You would think that, hey, that wouldn't be smart.

33:49

That wouldn't be wise. That wouldn't be right, you know, in certain ways to exercise your authority. That way, like you have a blank slate, but then

33:55

God's gonna judge you for how you do it, right? And that way, so I don't think that that position is necessarily coherent, but I can understand how a person can get there.

34:04

And I imagine that most people are answering yes or answering it along those lines, like meaning they're just looking at those kind of passages that seem like there's like a blank slate and just going with it.

34:15

But I would say that, no, I mean, I think there's obviously limits to a husband's authority and the Bible would define those limits and it would be, it would do us good to try to spell out what those are.

34:24

And so I think that that's where this is a concept that has, that many people, they, like the issue is like they mix this up in different ways, okay?

34:36

Like the issue is we just don't know how authority works and that's why you have to talk about a subject like this because you don't know how authority works.

34:42

So like the same group of people probably who say, hey, a husband's authority is absolute would also say that the government's authority is absolute, right?

34:52

Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Like, so like the issue is, it's just like, so then,

34:58

I mean, I, you know, I ask polls like this online just to see if I could get people to come up with any scenario, like any scenario whatsoever where the government's authority was limited.

35:09

And there's a certain kind of person who will double down on it. I mean, like if the government mandated Taco Tuesday every week, that you, you know, would you be in sin, you know, because the, you know, you were told to be, like Romans 13, to submit to the government, governing authorities, would you be in sin for not having

35:24

Taco Tuesday? And I would have people like about the same percentage of people who would basically say, yeah, you have to do Taco Tuesday, right?

35:31

You have to or you're in sin. Yeah, but then the issue is, like when you think about those two statements, like, so the same people would say husband's authority is absolute, and then they would say the government's authority is absolute.

35:41

And then you put those two things together, and it's like, well, who's the wife to listen to, right? Do you see what

35:47

I'm saying? So if a husband says no, the government says yes, then she's in sin both ways, right? Like, you know, so like the issue is, like there are obviously fears of authority in the

35:58

Bible to where, like the government doesn't have the authority of the home, right?

36:03

The husband has authority within the home in a different way. And so like there's just, there's fears of authority here that you have to interact with and deal with.

36:11

And those are limits to the amount of authority that like a pastor would have or the government would have or a husband would have.

36:17

And you have to think through what are the limits of those authority? And a lot of people, they just haven't done that. So I think what the poll reveals more so than anything is just people haven't thought through the nature of what authority means and, you know, what are the limits of it in that way.

36:32

Okay. All right, well, I think that's a good place for us to wrap up the episode on. And, you know, yeah, like we were alluding towards the beginning of the episode, this is just one of those questions that number one, you're not allowed to ask.

36:44

So naturally, it falls right into our wheelhouse. But then, you know, it seems like a lot of people have sort of written it off to the point that you cannot even ask the question.

36:57

Otherwise, you're, you know, wife beating sympathizer or you or normally the accusation is just you are a wife beater.

37:06

If you ask the, if you have to ask this question and I think those people sort of fail to realize that there are people out there legitimately asking that question and you have to have a response to it.

37:18

Otherwise, what is, what is your defense going to be when they, when they ask you, you know, and, and a lot of times that just leads people to think that you probably don't know what you're talking about and they're going to continue on in whatever their belief is.

37:36

And I think that, I think, I do think that is why you see a lot of people ultimately leaving the church is because they, they interact with Christians who just simply don't know how to respond biblically to certain questions.

37:48

And, and so that, that's a big deal. And that's why we ask a lot of these questions is because we want people to be able to think through these issues and, and be able to respond biblically, not just with emotion, not with grandstanding, not with a, you know, it's wrong because it's just wrong kind of response because that doesn't satisfy the person who's genuinely wanting a legitimate answer.

38:16

So, those are some things to think through. Like always, we appreciate all the support we receive from you guys week in and week out, interacting with us online, you know, liking and commenting on the videos, subscribing to the podcast, all those things.

38:31

We appreciate all that stuff and we ask you to continue to do those things to support us. Like the video, leave a comment, subscribe to the

38:39

YouTube channel, subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen and leave us a five -star review because all that stuff goes a really long way in helping us get out there to more people.

38:49

If you want to support us financially, you can do that through Patreon. There's a link down in the description and there's also a link to our various social media accounts and that's where we run a lot of these polls.

39:01

This episode is based off a poll that got like two, yeah, I think almost 3 ,000 votes.

39:08

Maybe it was about 2 ,600 or 700. I didn't look at it.

39:15

I haven't looked at it in a few days but it got a lot of interaction and oftentimes we turn those polls into episodes after we sort of see, hey, where are people at on this?

39:26

What are people's responses? Is this worth talking about? And so if you want to see more of that stuff and see it before the episodes actually come out, then click on the link to our social medias and follow us there and you'll get a lot of that in your feed.

39:42

And like I said, we appreciate you supporting the podcast and until the next episode, we'll see you.

39:49

This has been another episode of Bible Bashed. We hope you have been encouraged and blessed through our discussion.

39:54

We thank you for all your support and ask you to continue to like and subscribe to Bible Bashed and share our podcast with your friends and on social media.

40:03

Please reach out to us with your questions, pushback, and potential topics for us to discuss in future episodes at BibleBashedPodcast at gmail .com

40:12

and consider supporting us through Patreon. Now, go boldly and obey the truth in the midst of a biblically illiterate world who will be perpetually offended by your every move.